Chatswood railway station, Sydney, part of the Sulman award to Hassell

20 June 2010 – Sustainability was a key feature of the Australian Institute of Architecture Awards currently under way.

Following are some of the highlights so far.

NSW

The Milo Dunphy Award for Sustainable Architecture was won by Surry Hills Library and Community Centre by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt) which also won the public architecture award and the  John Verge Award for Interior Architecture.

Surry Hills Library, by Surry Hills Library and Community Centre by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt), winner of the Milo Dunphy Award for Sustainable Architecture

The jury said: “The Surry Hills Library and Community Centre delivers a wide range of services including a community library, childcare centre, and meeting spaces over four floors on a modest footprint. Overall, the building presents as a finely crafted piece of joinery, magnified to sit comfortably within the scale of the public domain. The jury was impressed with the project’s commitment to sustainability and the elegant way many of the initiatives have been integrated from first principles into the building form and its operation.” They added: “Surry Hills Library and Community Centre is a confident and considered piece of civic architecture. The building has been warmly embraced by the local community, and the client and the architect are to be commended for their commitment to delivering an exemplary outcome that eschews conventional notions of contemporary public architecture for local communities.”

The State’s top public architecture prize, the Sulman Award, was presented to the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link, Intermediate Stations, by HASSELL. Presenting the award, the jury said: “The four stations that make up the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link set a new benchmark for transport design in Australia. They are an elegant and innovative integration of engineering and architecture, where technical challenges and complexities have inspired rather than constrained the outcome. While the station planning is highly rational and easy for all users to understand, the spatial experience is rich and exciting.”

Paddington Reservoir, Gardens by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer with JMD Design and the City of Sydney

Winning multiple awards was the Paddington Reservoir Gardens by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer with JMD Design and the City of Sydney – recipients of this year’s Greenway Award for Heritage and the Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design.

• Other awards included: Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, winning the Blacket Prize for regional architecture with the Glasshouse: Arts, Conference and Entertainment Centre in Port Macquarie, which also received a commendation for public architecture.
• A small building at 5-9 Roslyn Street by Durbach Block Architects was awarded the Sir Arthur G Stephenson for Commercial Architecture.
• The Wilkinson Award, was presented to Tzannes Associates Pty Ltd for the Bilgola Residence on Sydney’s northern beaches.
• The Aaron Bolot Award for Multiple Housing was awarded to 20-24 Alfred Street Apartments, North Sydney, by BVN Architects
• Offices, Milsons Point by Harry Seidler & Associates, awarded the 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture
• the P6 Pay Station, Homebush by Tony Caro Architecture won the  small project architecture award
• The Charles Sturt University School of Dentistry, Wagga Wagga by Brewster Hjorth Architects, awarded the COLORBOND Award for Steel Architecture
• The President’s Prize to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore
• The Marion Mahony Griffin Prize was presented to architect Jan McCredie
• The Adrian Ashton Prize for architectural writing was presented to David Malouf
• The 2010 Premier’s Prize was jointly awarded to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery and Junee Library and their respective architects – Paul Berkemeier Architect with Barry McGregor and Associates, and Workshop 1 Dunn + Hillam Architects.

The Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge Memorial by Brian Hooper Architect and m3architecture (architects in association) in Central Queensland,

Queensland
The Harry S. Marks Award for Sustainable Architecture was won by the Willawong Bus Depot by City Design. The project “representsa major investment by the Brisbane City Council in environmentally sustainable design,” the jury said.

“Situated on a 22ha remediated waste disposal site the depot has embraced a broad range of strategies that simultaneously minimise the operation’s environmental impact and enhance the workplace. “

Other awards included:

• The FDG Stanley Award for Public Architecture was claimed by the Ipswich Justice Precinct by Cox Rayner Architects with ABM Architects.
  The Precinct, it also received this year’s Art and Architecture Prize and the G.H.M. Addison Award for Interior Architecture.
• The Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge Memorial by Brian Hooper Architect and m3architecture (architects in association) in Central Queensland, and the University of Queensland – Rural Clinical School by Arkhefield on the Darling Downs received two of the three other public architecture awards, with Brisbane’s The Lilley Centre by Wilson Architects picking up the third.
• The Karl Langer Award for Urban Design was presented to Kurilpa Bridge by Cox Rayner Architects with Arup
• The Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture was presented to Santos Place by Donovan Hill
• Old Government House Conservation and Adaptation by Conrad Gargett Architecture won the Don Roderick Award for Heritage.
• The Hayes & Scott Award for Small Project Architecture presented to the Balmoral Residence by Kieron Gait Architects.
• The 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture, presented to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre by Robin Gibson & Partners.

Transend Primary Store by HBV Architects

Tasmania
The Sustainable Architecture Award and a Public Architecture Award was awarded to the UTAS School of Furniture Design in Launceston by Six Degrees Pty Ltd and Sustainable Built Environments, architects in association. The jury’s comments were: “The School of Furniture Design, at the Launceston campus of the University of Tasmania, seamlessly incorporates simple sustainable design techniques into an architectural expression that is appropriate not only to the industrial nature of the site, but also the pragmatic requirements of the newly established furniture school. It is evident that environmentally sustainable design principles have been considered and integrated from inception although this has not been allowed to dominate.”

Other awards included:

• 25 Year Award For Enduring Architecture – Supreme Court Complex, Hobart by Department of Public Works, Peter Partridge
• Commercial Architecture Award and Colorbond Award For Steel Architecture – Transend Primary Store by HBV Architects
• Commercial Architecture Award – J Boag & Son New Brew House by Birrelli
• The Roy Sharrington Smith Award for Heritage – Strangio House by Maria Gigney Architects
• The Alan C Walker Award for Public Architecture – Makers’ Workshop by Terroir
• Public Architecture Award -Fahan Gymnasium & Performing Arts Centre by JAWSARCHITECTS
• Public Architecture Award – UTAS School of Furniture Design by Six Degrees Pty Ltd and Sustainable Built Environments, architects in collaboration
• Sustainable Architecture Commendation – J Boag & Son New Brew House by Birrelli
• President’s Prize – Robert Morris-Nunn
• Emerging Architect Prize – Todd Henderson
• John Lee Archer Triennial Prize – Dominic College Chapel by DesignInc Tasmania (now Forward Brianese + Partners)
• SWT Blythe Student Prize -Chloë Comino for Sub-urban Dwelling
• People’s Choice Prize – UTAS Medical Science 1 by Lyons